N7 Rejects: 001 – Scars
by N7Dante
Summary: After a mission to intercept a mysterious new weapon goes sideways, the two surviving Alliance operatives must overcome a conflict on Omega to complete the challenging objective. Worryingly, Rebecca is currently wishing that she was a hamster, and Scott is just longing to be back on the ship with that hot nurse. A fairly dark start to a series of disastrous adventures.
1. Foreword and notes

**Foreword and notes**

 *** Disclaimer type thing**

Although the original characters and scenarios belong to me, this is a fanfic based in the universe of the game series 'Mass Effect', which is most certainly owned by the brilliant developers at Bioware and, to some extent, those publishing guys at Electronic Arts.

 *** Original concept**

I'm one of those that couldn't help coming up with little back-stories and personalities when playing as the various characters in the multiplayer part of Mass Effect 3. This led to me writing a little 'pilot' fanfic based on their adventures that often parodied well-known tropes and situations my friends and I came across while playing.  
I ended up writing and re-writing stories to go around it, developing the characters further, and trying to come up with something ME fans would enjoy reading.

 *** Notes for this story**

001: For those curious about the timeline, this story occurs in-between ME2 and ME3, a little over a month after the events of the ME2 Arrival DLC.  
Regarding the Alliance armour the main characters are wearing, pretty much picture what they'd have in the multiplayer game. The helmets are different however, they have ones like the Delta Squad wear in the anime movie 'Mass Effect: Paragon Lost'. Scott's doesn't have the chin guard though, probably got a different type just to show off his goatee… yeah, that's something he would do.

 *** Special thanks**

N7Kate – my partner in and out of game, who basically introduced me to Mass Effect in the first place and gave me helpful feedback on the original concept story.

Edge – local comrade who has joined us in many online battles against the reapers, getting me hyped to write more.

Nick and Mack – for getting us through platinum difficultly and for being there when the galaxy needed us the most.


	2. Chapter 01 – Hamsters have it easy

**N7 Rejects: 001 – Scars**

 **Chapter 01** **– Hamsters have it easy**

[Date: 2186 - March]  
[Location: Omega Nebula - Sahrabarik - Space Station Omega]  
[Mission Brief: Intercept possible new weapon]

'Get out of here,' were the words that constantly rattled in her mind. His voice replayed over and over as she ran.  
The clanging of heavy boots on steel echoed throughout the dark hallway. The running footsteps then slowed to a walk before turning off through an open doorway…

The clearly panicked female human, wearing a dirt-stained yellow and black variation of the standard Alliance engineer body armour, crouched low behind a large shipping container. After a moment of listening, she sat down and rested her back against it.  
Wisps of warm vapour vacated her mouth as she breathed heavily within the cool metallic room of one of Omega's dingier cargo holds.  
Her gloved right hand made a move and came in contact with the bluish transparent visor covering the top half of her face. There was a low squeak of frustration for wasting those few precious seconds as she then quickly removed the helmet and placed it on the floor.  
Carefully setting her thin-framed glasses on her lap, she rapidly wiped her matted copper hair and the beads of sweat from her forehead. This caused her to briefly reminisce about how her pet hamster would do similar to clean itself. That lucky, oblivious to the universe, hamster…

The dull throbbing pain of a recently acquired bruise brought her back to reality and she looked down at her armour, checking for damage. Some dark scorch marks left by a flamethrower, the odd blood spatter that she knew wasn't hers, and the distinct grazes of gun fire scattered across the outer-plating. She was surprised at her lack of major injuries considering the recent tragedy, but the fate of her teammates replaying in the back of her mind wouldn't allow her to relax or feel any sort of relief.  
All the emotions that were bubbling to the surface had to be repressed again, this wasn't over.

The twenty-nine-year-old took a deep breath, looking forlornly at the far wall for two seconds before scolding herself; "Get it together Rebecca."

Her tired green eyes squinted tightly, but her naturally blurred vision didn't improve until she returned the spectacles against her freckled cheeks.  
Keeping her repose brief, she also replaced her helmet and then glanced around the statistics presented on the Heads-Up-Display within the visor.  
Skimming over her own vitals and looking at her squad's stats, she swallowed hard, tapping at the omni-tool on her left arm to hide some redundant data. Newton and Woodall's bio-readings were greyed out and leaving them there was just causing distress.

Removed…

Rebecca hadn't known them long before they were viciously killed but that didn't stop the tears welling up in her eyes. Real deaths on the battlefield were still a fresh experience for her, but she was smart enough to know not to allow it to distract her in the middle of a mission. Freezing up had nearly got her killed just a month ago and she refused to allow it to happen again.

Her only comfort at this moment was that she wasn't the lone survivor of the four-person squad sent to Omega. From the look of the small blue and red bars below his surname on the HUD, Scott Lawton was still alive.

Rebecca turned her head to the left and a small blue circle on her visor representing her combat drone slid into view. Although there were several walls in between, she could tell from the distance and direction that it hadn't moved from the room where she had placed it.  
She was about to quietly comment to herself at how well it was doing before the blue circle suddenly turned a purple colour, and then a red, before it vanished from her HUD completely. There was no doubt that it had taken heavy fire and had been destroyed.

"Scott," whispered Rebecca to the built-in microphone on the collar of her suit, "are you OK? Fido's down."

There was silence in return but it didn't faze her, she knew he would be mute until he was in a safe position to reply. History had taught her that in similar situations he would come to her or make contact first, she just wanted him to at least know that her drone was destroyed in case he wasn't aware.

The silence continued for a few moments more, before a faint shuffling sound could be heard from down the hallway.

Rebecca clumsily stood up with a slight wobble and instinctively rested her left arm against her stomach, her omni-tool still active across her armour.  
The scuffing sound was closer now, near the entrance were she came in. Whatever or whoever it was, it was entering the same cargo hold she was in.  
She bit her bottom lip, her back firmly against the large container, her right hand hovering over the M-5 Phalanx heavy pistol at her waist.

Her eyes flicked left then right before something made them focus straight ahead, causing her heartbeat to rapidly increase and her hand to twitch. The air two metres in front seemed to be distorted as if bending around the shape of a human figure. She instantly relaxed and gave a small smile a split second before the audible crackle of a tactical cloak powering down sounded out.

There stood Scott Lawton in his dark grey body armour.  
Despite the lightly blue tinted transparent visor covering the top half of his face, his features were very familiar to her, but something seemed strange.  
The sandy-blond goatee leading up to the identically coloured short spiky hair under his helmet seemed normal enough, but his deep-blue eyes were oddly crossed and he was puffing out his cheeks.

Rebecca's left eyebrow rose, giving a quizzical look as their eyes met.  
At that point Scott loudly let out his breath; "Blaaaaahhhhhh! I thought I was gonna die!"

Rebecca pointed her right index finger directly at him; "Why were you holding your breath?! You were trying to scare me again weren't you?!"

Scott broke eye contact, looking up at the high ceiling; "Noooo, of course not. Come on Bex, last time I tried that I got an overload right in the face."

"Well, well, you deserved it," pouted Rebecca remembering how her reaction last week instantly shattered his shield and scared him ten times more than the surprise he gave her.

"Maybe I was just trying to be super-sneaky-quiet in my daring escape," he added with a hint of smugness.

The initial distraction wore off and the engineer looked over to the wall on her left; "I… I'm glad you're safe."

Scott's mischievous grin faded substantially; "Glad you are too, it's a shame about…"

He tailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence.

Rebecca nodded; "They were good guys… it was brutal, but quick, I'm glad for that at least."

Scott nodded and then drew his M-23 Katana shotgun from the magnetic hold on his back; "With your drone's help I got three of the vorcha easy, only two of them left, but that krogan was shrugging off my shots like I was spraying him with water. I'm gonna need your help to take him down so we can finish this."

Rebecca's eyes seemed vacant even though she was facing him.  
Scott knew what was running through her mind, it was natural, but due to experience from previous missions, he knew she'd be able to handle it this time.

He followed up his statement to bring her back from her deep thought; "You with me?"

The engineer's expression changed to one of determination; "I'm with you. Let's do this and get back to base."

"That's my girl," grinned Scott.

Rebecca took a deep breath as she followed him back out into the hallway.

The two reached a familiar corner and the air seemed to intensify. Scott held up his hand to silently stop before carefully peering around the corner.

He pulled back again, turning to his teammate and speaking in a hushed-tone; "There's no guard so we're ok for now, they're either not expecting us back or can't spare the man-power since they lost three."

He then pointed with his thumb over his shoulder; "For the element of surprise though, I want you to get us into that door."

Rebecca peered over his shoulder then back down to the mini map layout on her omni-tool; "The schematics say it doesn't lead into A-113."

"I know," replied Scott, "we want 114. Just before I left to re-join you, I saw the krogan moving the package in that direction. Considering the size and way these rooms connect, they can't have gone much further, probably heading to a dock to shift the gear."

Rebecca walked up to the control panel on the left side of the door and raised her left arm so that her omni-tool's pop-up display was aligned with the screen on the wall.

"I already know which encryption is used so I'll be done in a jiffy," she beamed whiled rapidly tapping away at the keyboard-style interface on her arm.

With her vast systems knowledge and her own personal touches to the 'conference program', she made hacking the locked door look like a basic mini-game.

Scott didn't have to wait long standing guard before the wall panel gave a happy series of beeps, the display turning from a dark orange colour to a bright green.  
He turned from looking down the corridor as the heavy door 'swooshed' open and winked to his partner who quietly smiled and raised a 'victory' sign with two fingers.

The pair walked through the door into a storage room and the infiltrator began to search various unsecure boxes that were stacked haphazardly.

Scott took a few universal thermal clips and attached them to his ammo belt; "How handy… you need any?"

Rebecca was looking at her mini map again after noticing the adjoining door wasn't instantly visible; "I'm fine thanks, during that ambush I… didn't even get the chance to use my pistol… the door to A-114 should be to the side, behind this shelving."

"Blood," pointed out Scott, weapon still in hand.

The copper-like smell was suddenly apparent and Rebecca's eyes broke away from her omni-tool to the pool of blood on the floor, seemingly seeping from behind the shelving.  
Turning the corner, they were forced to stand in the large red puddle, confronted with three dead bodies.

Rebecca put a hand to her mouth, relieved in a small way that her recently killed teammates weren't among the number, but still shocked all the same.

Scott took a small pace forward; "Thought as much. The two humans will have been the original couriers, the volus must have been the buyer. Come on…"

Carefully stepping over the corpses, they reached and quickly hacked the door, opening the way to A-114. Upon stepping through, both made use of cover to begin their stealth advance. Scott activated his tactical cloak to scout out ahead before signalling to Rebecca to follow…

***


	3. Chapter 02 – Guardians of the container

**Chapter 02 – Guardians of the container**

The hulking form of Vernax, a malicious krogan in blood-covered battle armour, stood on a scaffold above the last two remaining vorcha in his gang; "Karakk! Shrill!"

The two vorcha suddenly stopped bickering at each other and looked up at their Blood Pack leader.

Knowing he had their full attention, the krogan gave his orders in a naturally booming voice; "Guard the container while I sort things out. Don't let anyone near it!"

"We wait," confirmed Karakk in his raspy voice, "guard box!"

Shrill snapped his many razor-like teeth together in excitement, seemingly unfazed by the recent death of his three vorcha brothers; "Will be riiiiich!"

The krogan turned and lumbered into the next room, punching both of his fists together; "Only if these idiots pay up."

The two guards gawked at the large remote-lock container as if it was a ten-foot tall slab of gold.

Barely a minute passed before the two vorcha heard the quiet but distinct sound of a combat drone materialising.

Shrill pointed past his brother, eyes wide with panic; "Glowy ball is back!"

Karakk turned to his right just in time to see the combat drone release a burst of electricity straight into his chest. He convulsed violently with a stuttering cry of pain for a few seconds before reacting on instinct and activating his flamethrower. The intense fire blasted through the drone as it approached, damaging it greatly, but also causing an unexpected result for the vorcha when it exploded directly next to him.

Karakk screamed in agony again, turning off his flame thrower and rubbing his bleeding eyes. With his vision impaired, he didn't even see Rebecca step out from behind a set of control panels, already lining up a shot with her M-5 Phalanx.

The heavy pistol fired once, hitting the target in the chest, and then a second time roughly in the same area, then a third. Wary of the quick regenerative ability of the species, Rebecca continued to unload the reminder of the clip with an involuntary whine of panic emitting from the back of her throat.

Thinking more clearly, the female human lined up the sixth shot with help from the pistols laser sight, the shaved chunk of metal burying itself directly between Karakk's eyes.  
The vorcha fell backwards, dead before his lifeless body even hit the ground.

Shrill, who was unmistakably stunned at the calculated speed in which all this had happened, regained his senses and lurched forward towards her; "Kiiiiiilllllllllllll yooooooooouuuuuuuu!"

Rebecca yelped with adrenaline-fuelled fear for her life, realising there was no time to reload. She took a step back while quickly dropping her gun and used her now free right hand to press a shortcut-macro button on her omni-tool.

Shrill's shield suddenly surged with an overload and completely shattered, but it didn't faze him as much as Rebecca had hoped.

Shrill raised his M-27 Scimitar shotgun towards her and hissed; "You diiiiiieeeee!"

"I wonder how effective this is at point blank range?" pondered Scott's calm voice from behind Shrill.

"Whaaaatt?!" asked the startled vorcha, quickly turning 180 on the spot.

Shrill could just about make out the nozzle of a cloaked M-23 Katana shotgun before his head was instantly vaporised.  
The headless body dropped to the ground with a dull thud and a squelch, just as Scott de-cloaked.

"It's super effective," mused Scott to himself, "however…"

The infiltrator dropped his weapon to the ground and swiftly took the Scimitar from the fresh corpse; "Ding! Upgrade!"

Rebecca tried to control her erratic breathing; "I… that was..."

Scott looked over to her with a huge smile; "Nice one! You didn't freeze up like last time at all, for a minute there I thought you were gonna go off plan and kill the second one too. You were like Shepard!"

The engineer knew that Scott was just trying to boost her confidence, but she couldn't help blurting out a quick laugh at the comparison between herself and such an exceptional soldier; "Don't be ridiculous, I was a scared, and…"

She paused as she retrieved and reloaded her pistol, her voice taking a disappointed tone; "I can't believe I dropped my gun, so stupid. Why did I do that?"

Scott's voice lowered to a more serious level; "Being scared is natural Becky. Scared is what keeps you alive in these situations. You'll get used to it and you'll strive better under pressure each time."

Rebecca holstered her pistol, finally finding the confidence to ask something that had been on her mind for a long time; "How do you do it? In the last few missions, we've come so close to death, lost so much, and you just joke around and laugh it off..."

Scott hesitated for a moment, as if considering if he should reveal some great secret; "It's how I work. Don't think I'm not crapping myself out there, I just deal with it in my own way to keep sane I guess. It's kept me alive so far anyway."

"There might be merit in such a process," replied Rebecca thoughtfully.

Scott's smirk reappeared to lighten the mood; "Besides, what's a few vorcha? It's not as bad as that time we woke the rachni up at that listening post."

Rebecca over-acted her natural shiver at the memory; "I toooollllldddd you NOT to remind me about those overgrown bugs. Yuck! Ick-ick."

Scott laughed and then turned to the large container that was resting on a mass effect field-powered mover/loader; "Well, looks like mission compl-"

The sound of a distance automatic door and slow but loud footsteps echoed from the gantry above.  
Both Alliance soldiers suddenly realised that they had completely forgotten about the larger remaining threat.

"This way," said Scott, quickly leading his teammate behind the wall of a nearby side office.  
The two pressed their backs against the cover and held their breath.

Vernax's voice boomed as he entered the cargo-hold, wiping fresh blood stains across his heavy armour with one hand and inspecting a newly required control tablet in the other; "Good news boys, they tried to kill me, hahaha! This means the crate is worth even more than they were going to pay us!"

"Shit," whispered Scott, "he's killed our only other leads, best we can do now is deal with him and then get the box back to the ship."

The silence that followed Vernax's entrance puzzled the krogan and caused him to look down over the platform; "Since when were you guys so quiet? Pyjak got your tongue?"

Upon seeing the two dead vorcha sprawled out on the floor, he readied his M-300 Claymore shotgun and roared; "Who's there?! Show yourself!"

The two humans remained quiet and tried to think of a strategy. With the death of their squad leader and second-in-command, the 'B-Team' had to come up with their own plan. This was something Scott preferred as he relished being spontaneous and coming up with his own way of dealing with challenges. He also knew that Rebecca trusted him and was flexible enough to go along with any scheme that came to mind.  
At the moment however, he was drawing a blank. Requiring intel on the container and the main group behind hiring the Blood Pack, meant that Vernax would need to be taken alive for questioning.  
Scott frowned to himself as it was unlikely that such a scenario would play out.

"I know it's you," boomed the krogan, coming to the correct conclusion that the infiltrator from before had returned, "are you too scared to face me? Come out! I'll rip you to pieces like I did your little friends!"

Scott peered around the wall and yelled back; "Think we're stupid? Why don't you surrender and we'll let you live?"

Rebecca's entire body seemed to slump in shock as her acting leader just destroyed any element of surprise they had; "Scott!"

He turned to her with a smirk; "Relax, he's only got a shotgun, no range at all. He'll have to come down to get us and that's when we'll…"

An inferno grenade was thrown and scuttled towards Scott's feet.

He gave a quick panicked glance to his teammate; "Okay-I'm-stupid."

The two scattered as far away as they could before the large ball of fire erupted.


	4. Chapter 03 – In a pinch

**Chapter 03 – In a pinch**

The metal flooring hissed with steam as it began to cool back down.  
From his advantageous position, Vernax could easily see both humans hiding behind cover and fired a few shots down towards them.

As Scott predicted, the wide spread of the blasts across the long distance failed to hit home, and the small pieces of shrapnel that did, merely tickled the Alliance shields. However, the attacks were still doing a good job of supressing movement, keeping the two humans split up.

"Can't believe we're pinned down by this guy," grumbled Scott.

Rebecca's voice came through Scott's helmet communications; "At least he's not down here charging us. Listen, I have an idea that I think will work."

Vernax grumbled as his clip emptied, but rather than reload, he sheathed the weapon.

"You know what?!" bellowed the krogan pressing various touch-screen buttons on the hand-held controller he stole earlier, "I think I'll test out my new toy, see how much it's really worth!"

The panel on the large container just below the gantry began to light up and then made a series of beeps. The container doors slid open to reveal what looked like a largely modified YMIR battle mech.

"Erm, scratch that," reconsidered Rebecca, "idea won't work any more."

"Hey, you were right," pointed out Scott, "it was some sort of mech inside… I owe you twenty."

"Well it was hardly going to be 'some random naked chick' like you suggested."

"It could have been," said Scott disappointedly.

A loud rumbling, like an old motor engine starting up, echoed across the room and the mech awoke, stepping firmly out of its dwelling. Initially standing at eight-foot, several panels across its body shifted and various pieces turned or extended to add a further two foot to its height. It also revealed a blue-lit circular senor array and other strange, but oddly familiar, modifications weaving in and out along the standard frame.

Rebecca looked over to Scott in horror; "Geth tech?!"

"The rumour of a prototype weapon was right, but this is…" said Scott in disbelief.

Vernax pressed a few commands on the control tablet and chuckled as the phrase 'Targets Acquired' flashed up; "Heh, this should be fun."

The colour of the mech's electronic 'eye' spread to the geth modifications, turning the pale blues to a menacing red. The machine began to lurch forward, two large mechanical claws clamping down on various obstacles and throwing them to either side, systematically removing any cover the humans could use.

"Bex! Call Fido!" ordered Scott, dashing off to his left as the bank of terminals he was hidden behind was ripped up out of the floor.

"On it!" she replied, summoning her combat drone to appear just behind the mech while Scott vanished.

Fido quickly let out a short burst of high voltage electricity but it seemed to have no effect at all. After a second burst, a small antenna protruded from the mech's spinal panel and retuned the shock back, destroying the drone in a single hit.

"What the?" blinked Rebecca.

Scott de-cloaked directly behind the mech's right leg and fired his M-27 Scimitar at point blank; "Suck it!"

Upon realising the shotgun barely even scratched it, the human quickly dived and rolled to the left as a raised claw smashed down into the floor where he had been stood a second ago.

Rebecca used her omni-tool to set off an overload within the mech that seemed to do no damage at all, but it at least distracted the machine from performing a follow-up attack.

Scott cloaked again while Rebecca fired her pistol at the geth-like senor array, frustratingly missing what she assumed was a vital point despite the aid of her laser sight.  
The mech was still for a moment allowing Rebecca to fire a direct hit, but it only managed to deliver a slight crack to the casing.  
The right claw of the mech then oddly snapped down and forward at thin-air before rearing up.

Believing the robot to be malfunctioning from her attacks, Rebecca dared a smile and whispered a quick; "Yes."  
The smile instantly faded when she saw Scott decloak in the space between the mech's grip; "No…"

Scott tried to wiggle himself free from the two large pieces of metal holding him up in the air; "No fair! How did you see through my cloak?! I'm calling hax! You OP piece of shi-"

"Ho ho hooo," beamed Vernax, thoroughly enjoying his new toy and pressing more commands on the tablet; "now get the other one!"

The mech stomped forward at surprising speed, kicking up debris from the earlier rampage high into the air. Although some of the wreckage soared past her harmlessly, a piece of piping flew forward, striking a glancing blow to Rebecca's helmet.  
It was enough to daze her, the force causing her to spin around, trip over her own feet, and fall to the floor. Just as she got on all fours to push herself back up, she felt the mech's left claw clamp around the sides of her chest.  
She let out a quick scream of fear and surprise as she was lifted into the air.

"Becky!" cried out her partner, "Don't panic, we'll get out of this!"

Her eyes fixed on him from across the gap between them as he continued flailing. His words giving her a small confidence boost to keep fighting.

Although full of dread, she assessed the situation. Scott's left arm was trapped between the claw pincers, but his right was free. Sadly this meant very little as he had dropped his shotgun to the floor during the grab. He was also unable to reach the backup assault rifle attached to his back or the grenades on his belt.

Both her own arms were free but she had completely lost track of her pistol, she couldn't remember if she had holstered it or dropped it again before getting grabbed. She realised she was in a similar situation anyway, the width of the pincers meant she couldn't reach around to any of her attached kit. She thrashed out with her dangling legs but the mech kept a firm grip on her.

Rebecca's omni-tool flared into life and she used a quick marco button to fabricate an incendiary cartridge. Firing it directly at the mech's geth-like 'eye', she flinched as the cartridge exploded in a burst of high temperature flames. The blaze died quickly to reveal no damage at all.

The engineer gasped as her omni-tool started its cool-down procedure; "It didn't do anything! What grade armour has this thing got?"

Scott, who had been pounding his free fist down on the claw in the hopes of finding a weakness, began to fear that this was the end for them both.

He decided to distract the krogan in the hopes that he'd make a mistake; "Hey ugly! Why don't you ditch this stupid robot and you and me have a fist fight, come on! Mano-a-mano!"

Vernax began to laugh; "Normally I'd take you up on the offer, but this is too much fun. Let's savour it by slowly crushing you both to death. I'll start with you first since you seem so desperate to die. The female can watch."

"No! Don't!" screamed Rebecca, feeling even more helpless.

"Seconded!" agreed Scott.

The krogan bared his teeth with glee while changing a setting on the control tablet.


	5. Chapter 04 – Meltdown

**Chapter 04 – Meltdown**

Scott could instantly feel the change in pressure as the claw slowly began to grip him tighter and tighter. He choked as if he had just been winded by a punch to the stomach, but still found a strained voice to call out; "What? You chicken? Don't dare take me ooooon-urrrrggh!"

Vernax simply chuckled quietly to himself as he watched the human's face turn red. His delight increased when his prey finally screamed in agony.

"Scott!" cried out Rebecca, unable to stop the tears welling up in her eyes.

Only glancing at her for a second out of shame, the infiltrator whispered a painful; "Sorry…"

The claw continued tightening and Scott turned his face away from his teammate, not wanting her to see him in such anguish. He gurgled another yelp of pain, sure that the bones in his trapped arm had now been at been fractured, if not broken, against his own body.

With the cool-down period complete, Rebecca launched another incinerate at the mech, her helmet protecting her from the heat of the close explosion. It was the same result, some scorching, but no evidence of any real damage at all.

The tears began streaming from her eyes after her HUD highlighted Scott's erratic vitals. Stories of Cerberus Atlas mechs killing soldiers in exactly the same way flashed through her mind.

Rebecca's fingers raced over the omni-tool's translucent orange keyboard set out across her left arm. Various customised mini-programs and hand-gesture shortcuts allowed her to access the hidden system settings for the tool within seconds.

"Co… come on," loudly whimpered the engineer, rapidly tapping away and ignoring countless advisory exclamation signs that began to pop-up on her floating display screen.

A series of warning beeps indicated for her to hold her left arm out. The omni keyboard collapsed and a section above her wrist rose up, quickly fabricating a small disc-like cartridge within. It began to spin with great speed and became cloaked in a shroud of crackling orange. Without pressing anything, the incinerate disc fired out and into the mech's sensors again.  
The explosion caused little damage, but some mild scorching made it look like it was at least having some result.

Vernax watched on with interest, taking great amusement in the girl's struggle. He knew that he'd have plenty of time to kill both of them before her attacks could burn through the armour plating, especially with the omni-tool's widely known cool-down times.  
Just before the explosion completely faded away, another cartridge fired out, flames focused and bursting out against the mech's weak point.

Vernax's eyes widened but he didn't fully realise what was happening until two seconds later when a third explosion was created at the same point.  
Quickly running his large fingers over the control tablet, he found he wasn't familiar enough with the operating system to end the situation quickly, but he was able to at least start the other claw closing on a slow setting like earlier.

Scott almost felt like he could ignore the intense pain he was feeling as he watched incinerate after incinerate blast into the mech, the flames brightly lighting up the area and almost blinding him. He concluded that Rebecca had either somehow overclocked her omni-tool, or that she had transformed into a red fire-breathing dragon, similar to the one in the video game he had been recently playing.

Rebecca cried out in pain as the mech's claw slowly increased its grip, while in contrast, Scott found himself unable to make a sound due to the extreme stress his body was taking now.

The bombardment of incinerate blasts continued and all the human girl could do was steadily hold out her arm and cry out as she felt the pressure against her ribs increase.  
A final warning message on her omni-tool flashed up to state that a fail-safe would now activate, but Rebecca held a finger against a quick override command through tear-blurred eyes.

After another two shots, a further incinerate cartridge began to fabricate. Instead of launching, it continued to spin on the spot for longer than previously observed, accompanied by a whirling sound that increased in volume.  
Realising what was about to happen, Rebecca turned her head away just as the cartridge backfired and her arm burst into flame, the omni-tool instantly deconstructing due to the damage.

The engineer had never screamed louder in her life than right now, the agony across her arm out-weighing the crushing pinchers, even with her armour automatically causing a small flood of medi-gel to repair the bodily damage.

The large claws holding the two humans suddenly snapped fully open, dropping them both painfully to the floor. The mech's red lights faded back to the calmer blue colour and then turned off completely.

Glaring back at the control pad, Vernax's frustration turned into concern as a warning message flashed up on the screen.  
He read out-loud, as if justifying his next decision to himself; "Core meltdown…"

While disappointed that he was unable to witness the humans get crushed to death, the krogan decided to cut his losses rather than risk getting caught in a large explosion.

He flung the pad over the gantry as he turned, leaving the room; "I'm not hanging around for that."

Although the engine-like sounds had stopped, the mech began to emit a dull buzzing that stopped and then started again every three seconds.

From his crumpled position on the floor, Scott breathed in deeply and then wished he hadn't; "Ow, ow, ow…"

Trying to ignore all his senses, he crawled over towards Rebecca who was now laid on her back and completely silent; "Shit! Becky, you better not be dead. I'm gonna be… ow, s-so pissed, if you're dead."

As he crawled over to her, he took note of her left arm. He figured the flames had been put out by the sudden fall or the crash landing, but the armour sleeve looked badly burnt and cracked, he didn't even want to think how damaged her arm was underneath.

"Becky," tried Scott again as he got closer, pausing for a moment in case she replied quietly, "come on girl, you were amazing, you saved us both… answer me."

Once again there was no reply, just the buzzing sound from the half-melted mech standing above them.

More urgently now, but still on all fours, Scott flinched quietly through his own pain to reach her, his head now hovering over hers from the side.

He gently turned her helmeted head so that she was facing up at him.  
The lower half of Rebecca's motionless face was covered in dirt and drying tears, half hiding the freckles he frequently teased her about.

Scott had almost been tempted to crack a gag about how much hair she would have lost in the explosions if she had been without head protection, but his concern for her overwrote his joking nature.

His HUD had no readings for her at all and her unresponsiveness was having a stronger effect on him than he would have ever estimated. Out of everyone in the Alliance, this girl was the only one that put up with his mistakes and attitude, the only teammate he even remotely trusted, the only one that would dare survive alongside him.

"Come on Bex… this isn't…" whispered Scott, stopping himself before he choked up.

He leaned closer to her face, closing his eyes and holding his breath, trying to listen intently…  
Nothing, he couldn't hear anything over the echoing buzzing sound above. His body slumped in despair.

There was a light 'plink' sound caused by his helmet visor gently making contact and crossing hers.  
He slowly opened his eyes, hoping he'd find her looking back up at him, but she was unmoving.  
For the next few seconds, all he could do was stare down at her in a numbed state.

Needing to refocus his sight caused him to pull away for a moment and sit up straight on his knees. He rubbed at his eyes before he noticed the small patch of fading condensation on the middle-left of his visor.

Puzzled for a second, he quickly bowed down and repositioned his head lower again so that his visor was just over Rebecca's slightly open mouth. A second later, her breath created a small smudge of moisture on his visor again, causing the human male to pull back again and raise both of his fists up; "Yes!"

This was instantly followed by him curling back up into a ball and cursing due to the pain in his ribs.  
Despite the stinging discomfort, Scott smiled, confident that his teammate would make it through.

Carefully laying back, Scott's plan was to rest for a moment, and then wait for Rebecca to regain consciousness before returning to the Kodiak drop shuttle they arrived in on.

The intermittent buzzing sounds from the mech suddenly got louder and faster.

Predicting the danger, Scott sat up with new-found energy and urgency; "Nope!"

The warning sounds were so rapid now that it was likely he only had moments before something exceptionally bad happened.  
Quickly glancing at Rebecca's unconscious body, he knew that with his own injuries it'd be unlikely that he'd be able to get her a safe enough distance away in time.

Scott scanned the area for some close cover, but the earlier carnage had cleared away all instances of such. Something else caught his eye however.

"No waaayyyy," commented Scott quietly, half in disbelief at his possible good luck.

The infiltrator rotated and shifted his body to begin crawling on his hands and knees again. With each movement, pain coursed throughout his body as he moved closer to his target; "Ow, oww, owwwwww, ow, shit, fuck, bollocks! Ah, here we are."

Sitting back down on the metal floor, he began to study the now scuffed and slightly cracked control pad that Vernax discarded.

"Right, what's it… core melt down?! What the heck's inside that thing?!" panicked Scott, pressing as many commands as he could to try and find a way to contain or stop it.

A heat and danger level donut-chart indicated that an explosion was guaranteed within seconds.  
The human gritted his teeth as he swiped off error messages and tried again, but the buzzing had now become a loud whining sound.

Scott yelled in frustration, forcefully dropping the pad to the floor and slamming his fist down on the screen. The display began to glitch constantly and garbled messages flickered on and off.

Scott looked over to Rebecca and then hung his head down; "Damn it…"

A panel at the front of the mech's middle body section opened up to reveal some sort of diamond shaped technology engulfed in a red hot glow.

Scott lifted his head as he heard a strange clicking sound replace the loud whining hum; "Eh?"

The out-stretched tray that held the core continued clicking, as if it was jammed from completing whatever its function was. Melted metal and sparking parts of half-destroyed components were likely the cause of it and what happened next.

The mech suddenly dropped to one knee and tilted with a loud grinding sound that scared several more swear words out of Scott.

A shimmering blue mass effect field surrounded the core just as the tray created a laboured grinding noise.

Scott began to slowly scrunch up his eyes.

There was a loud bang, but fiery death did not follow. Instead, the core was forcefully ejected at great speed straight across the cargo hold, piercing through the thin walls due to a combination of velocity, extreme heat, and the mass effect shield surrounding it.

As far as Scott could tell from the sounds directly afterwards, it may have even shot through a few more walls before falling to the floor some number of rooms away.  
There was a silence for a moment before the echoing of a distant explosion and loud sirens could be heard.

An exceptionally relieved Scott began to laugh at his luck before clutching at his chest and groaning; "Urggghh, it hurts to laugh."

Looking over to his tranquil partner, he spoke despite knowing that she couldn't hear him; "You should have been conscious for that… you would have crapped yourself, it would have been hilarious."

Scott pushed himself up onto his feet with groans of pain and hobbled over to Rebecca; "You're not gonna wake up are you?"

There was no reply.

"I'm gonna have to carry you aren't I?"

There was still no reply.

"Oh this is gonna hurt..."

***


	6. Chapter 05 – Stories to tell

**Chapter 05 – Stories to tell**

[Seven hours later]  
[Location: The Troubadour]

The Troubadour was a little-known but significant Systems Alliance frigate. It acted as the HQ for groups of selected N7 program applicants, who were ranked between N1 and N5, before they continued on with standard training.

In addition to the typical top-line resources and facilities, Commander Martin Dodson was trialling a new method of training after attacks from the geth and indoctrinated personnel increased across the galaxy. Rumours that the 'reapers' were less of a fairy-tale than first thought also spurned the desire for a more streamlined method of getting hardened soldiers out in the field.

To try and increase turn-over in a rapidly depleting pool of potentials, Dodson placed his 'students' in active operations during their training for better first-hand experience. They were essentially undertaking N6 level training, allowing them to jump up the ranks much faster.  
The original concept behind the idea was justified at first, since N7 program members were already the 'cream of the crop', however, the path of building a better solider often resulted in deaths when trainees were sent on missions above their experience level.

Scott was sat on a table in the mess hall, wearing a simple medi-bay issued white t-shirt and some grey slack bottoms. He was surrounded by sixteen other N7 program trainees who had joined him in a toast to the lost members of the group.  
Some refilled their small drink glasses for another round, all listening intently to Scott's slightly over-exaggerated tale of the recent mission. The sombre mood began to pick up after he excitedly described the most action-packed parts of the ordeal for several minutes.

Although his left arm was in a supportive sling, his right hand thrashed wildly in the air; "So the mech's got the squeeze on us and I'm bashing away trying to get free before my eyes pop out. I'm thinking it's the end, but next I know, Becky's actually overclocked her omni-tool and is all like 'fiiirrreeeebaaaaall' at this thing. Never seen anything like it, rapid-fire incinerates just being lobbed at it, melting right through the plating while we're being squished to death. At this point, the krogan's wetting himself, he's all like 'oh man these guys are too nuts, I'm outta here' and then…"

Suddenly a voice behind the group interrupted; "Scott Lawton."

The gathering split down the middle and parted to give a clear view between Scott and one of the ship's communication officers.

There was silence for a beat before the messenger spoke; "Commander Dodson requests your presence in his quarters."

Scott slowly slid off the table and mocked a thoughtful pose; "Oh yes, how could I forget my chat with Doddy. I should probably see him before he bursts another blood vessel."

As Scott began to move on, he slowly twirled around to the group and walked backwards; "You were a fine audience, if you wish to hear the rest of the legend, please purchase the video discs I'll be selling later tonight."

Some of the group laughed at the joke while some fully believed that he'd try to make money off of his 'adventure stories'.

The door to the commander's office slid open and Scott walked in, his gaze instinctively locking onto the various awards and trinkets scattered about the walls and surfaces. An exotic and particularly out-of-place looking crystal pendant was resting on the large desk that the commander was sat at. It reminded Scott of something, but he didn't have chance to try and recall.

Dodson was a battle-worn man of sixty, his hair extremely thinned out and his pale blue eyes full of history. His medal-covered uniform was in perfect condition, even down to his favourite white gloves, giving him a definite 'official' look.  
Without looking up from the three datapads he was studying, Dodson raised a beckoning hand; "You were supposed to report to me immediately after you got out of the medi-bay."

Walking forward, Scott sat down on the guest chair across from his superior, placing his feet on the desk; "I didn't think you were serious, I mean, I wrote a written report and…"

Dodson looked up and interrupted with a stern glare; "One, I'm always serious. Two, you can't call that mess of spelling and grammar mistakes a report. Three, get your feet off my desk."

Scott quickly shrunk back, his feet firmly on the floor, automatically responding with a; "Sir!"

"Resources are thin," grumbled Commander Dodson pausing to gather his thoughts, "if it wasn't for the current situation I'd have you and Watkins ejected from the program. Sometimes I'm quiet mystified why Mannering selected you two."

"Kicked some ass, saved his life…" replied Scott purposely trailing off.

Dodson held up one of the datapads he had been studying; "And I begin to wonder how much of a freak occurrence that was. Every one of your missions to date has ended in disaster."

"Not every one," weakly argued Scott, seemingly hurt at the statement.

The commander began to read from the screen in his hand; "Let's review your recent final report. First of all, the primary objective was not secured, in fact, it was destroyed…"

"To be fair, the objective was asking for it sir. It was a huge killer robot that tried to squish us like grapes," added Scott snapping the fingers and thumb of his free hand together like a crab.

Dodson continued; "Vernax, our only lead in this ongoing investigation, escaped. The couriers, dead. The buyer, dead. Whoever hired the Blood Pack, dead. Your squad leader and your second in command, dead, God rest their souls. Watkins, recovering in the medi-bay. On top of all that, I also hear Aria T'Loak is now after you for creating a sizable hole in her 'kingdom'."

Scott glanced up at the ceiling with a squint, the tip of his tongue between his teeth, slightly nodding his head left and right as if tallying the results; "Okay, maybe it sounds a little like a disaster. Guess we still won't be seeing N4 just yet, ay?"

Dodson's features seemed weary and he sighed loudly; "How many times have we had a conversation like this?"

Scott didn't reply and glanced to floor, his thoughts now filled with previous unsuccessful missions, his own goals seeming further away.

The commander walked to a cabinet and opened it, retrieving a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.  
Slowly pouring the strong liquid into the glasses, his voice lowered to a more sombre tone; "I push you because despite your appalling track record, you still have the potential to be one of the best. You are nothing like your father. I know you did everything you could out there."

The infiltrator scowled in self-pity; "I didn't know them very well, but they easily outclassed me. I couldn't believe what happened, we fell for the trap but they…"

Scott swallowed hard, finally able to voice his guilt, only just being able to hold back his tears; "I can't stop thinking that they got killed protecting Becky and me, you know… In fact, I'm certain, if it wasn't for us getting in trouble…"

Dodson handed Scott a quarter-filled glass; "You are not to blame for their deaths, they chose their own actions in a desperate situation. This is not an uncommon occurrence for members of the Alliance."  
Holding up his own glass, the commander continued; "To Newton and Woodall."

Scott raised his drink in return; "Men of true worth."

Both men downed their drinks in a single mouthful.

"Now," said Dodson with a grunt, "you better go into further detail about this hybrid weapon you fought, it's causing quiet a stir."

***


	7. Chapter 06 – Resolve

**Chapter 06 – Resolve**

Two hours later, Scott entered the Troubadour's medi-bay and approached a young lady in an Alliance medical uniform; "Hey there doc, how are you?"

The doctor's long black hair swung to one side as she turned towards him; "Fine thank you, any further problems with your arm, or are you here to see Miss Watkins?"

Scott flashed a grin before leaning in and whispering into her ear; "Maybe I'm just here to see you."

The doctor glanced around the room to confirm that they were alone before her voice lowered to a more sensual tone, her right index finger running down his chest; "Well, maybe after my shift, we can pick up from where we left off earlier."

"I'll look forward to a _thorough_ examination," replied Scott, waggling his eyebrows and walking past her, "but for now, I'll see how my teamie is getting on."

"She's awake now, room 1," replied the doctor smiling and tapping away at a console.

"Thanks."

The medi-lab was of standard size for an Alliance frigate, but many had commented that it was a 'budget model' when considering the 30 member crew.

Scott opened the door to recovery room 1 to find Rebecca sat up in her bed, watching a TV screen on the wall opposite.  
Upon instantly recognizing her visitor, the broadcast was muted via a small remote control and she quickly moved a few lose strands of hair away from her forehead with her right hand.

"Well, if it isn't the 'red dragon'," proclaimed Scott, pointing a finger towards her.

"That nickname doesn't exactly suit me," chuckled the engineer.

"The 'fiery phoenix' then," suggested Scott as he sat on a chair next to the bed.

"Heh, I'm sure if I were such a mythical bird, I wouldn't have had any problem with setting parts of myself on fire."

Scott nodded to her bandaged left arm resting on top of the bed covers, glad that she was sounding more upbeat despite slyly criticising herself; "So how is it?"

She looked down at her arm, not daring to move it; "I got second-degree burns all around the arm from wrist to elbow. The medi-gel from my suit helped at the time but also messed things up a bit. It's not as bad as it could have been, but most the yucky blisters burst and I'll have lots of bad scarring."

Scott tilted his head; "I'm sure you can get the scars sorted after you heal up. I'll even help with the cost if you want."

Feeling her cheeks warming a little, Rebecca averted her gaze towards her bandages, trying not to look directly at Scott; "That's sweet of you, but I've been thinking about it… I'm going to leave it as is. It'll be a good reminder to not over-clock omni-devices. Besides, it's not as if…"

"Hmm?" queried Scott, wondering why she had cut off.

Rebecca scratched her nose; "Nothing, never mind. So, what about you? I'm guessing your ribs and internal organs are as mushy as mine."

"We'll live," laughed Scott giving a thumbs-up, "and as for my own arm, it'll fully heal up soon enough, the tech's done as much as it can, just gotta take it easy."

"Sorry I blacked out by the way, thanks for getting me back here. It must have been a struggle."

Scott gave no hint to the pain he suffered on Omega while carrying her back to the extraction point before an unexpected stranger helped him move her; "Peh, forget thanks about that, thank YOU for saving us both in the first place. You were awesome!"

Rebecca allowed herself to feel a little smug, unable to stop herself from beaming; "I _was_ pretty awesome."

Scott grinned and then ruffled the girl's hair; "Just don't set yourself on fire in the process next time."

The engineer couldn't help feeling like a kid sister at that point and she suddenly felt a pang within her stomach, but a different concern sprung to the forefront of her mind; "What did Dodson say? Are we… well…"

"Don't worry," reassured Scott, "we're not gonna get kicked out for that. Doddy didn't even yell that much this time either. Though, it's clear we're still nowhere near a promotion. He wants a word with you when you're outta here by the way, you know, report stuff."

Rebecca began the process of resetting her messed up hair; "Do you think we'll ever reach N7?"

Scott clenched his free fist and held it up; "Hells yeah! Way I see it, we've advanced leaps and bounds. True, we've had hiccups, but we should never let the bad things bring us down. We're gonna get better and finally hit that goal. We're gonna show everyone that called us rejects how wrong they were."

"Hehee," grinned Rebecca, impressed by his determination and losing all her remaining despondency, "yeah!"

The two beamed at each other with renewed resolve until something on the television caught Scott's eye. He reached for the TV remote, un-muting the current broadcast.

The program was an internal interview with various members of the Systems Alliance. The N7 emblem flashed up for a few seconds and was then seen again upon the armour of two humans talking towards the camera. The focus was currently on a male in dark teal striped black armour, the name 'Dante Graywards' along with the words 'N7 Shadow class' displayed at the bottom.

Scott's eyes widened a little upon noticing a hilt behind the man's back; "Dude's got a freaking sword! How have I never thought of that?"

Rebecca scanned the picture as the camera pulled back; "Looks like he has one of those Scorpion pistols too. I guess being N7 gets you access to a lot of rare weapons."

The name and class tags changed to 'Kate Summers – N7 Solider class', as the camera panned to a female soldier in red and black armour. Her face displaying an obvious determination while explaining how she would protect the colony behind her from all threats.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," exclaimed Scott clenching his fist, "so kick-ass! Now I'm even more determined to reach N7!"

Rebecca laughed; "I don't think you can get any more determined."

Scott seemed lost in the screen for a few moments; "Damn, that Kate girl is hot."

"I'm starting to doubt the motives of your current determination."

"Speaking of hot," said Scott suddenly snapping back to reality, "I got me a date to get ready for."

That feeling within Rebecca's stomach panged again, but she showed no sign of discomfort; "Well, you better get off then."

Scott was already halfway out the door, his head peering back in; "Rest up and get well soon, we'll go out drinking with the guys when you're better."

"Um, errr..." started Rebecca.

"See thee later."

"See ya," she replied quickly as the door closed.

Rebecca remotely switched off the TV and removed her glasses, placing them on the bedside table before staring at the blank screen across the room silently, several mixed emotions running through her head.

A solitary tear trickled down Rebecca's cheek; "Last time…"

She then forced a smile to herself before wiping her eyes and lying down in the bed.


End file.
